The present invention relates to a molded connector in which a terminal fixture is covered by resin molding.
A possible technical approach to connect a connector of a wire harness to an inverter in an electric motor vehicle, is present. In the approach, a molded connector is manufactured such that a terminal fixture is connected to a terminal end of an electric wire, and the wire connection part of the terminal fixture and the terminal end of the wire are covered by resin molding. An outer covering of the molded connector is fit into a mounting hole of an inverter case. A device connection part protruded from the front end of the molded connector is firmly fixed to a terminal base within an inverter case.
A terminal fixture that is available for the structure is a terminal fixture having a universally usable shape, which is formed by bending a plate formed by pressing a piece in a predetermined shape. The terminal fixture is constructed such that the wire connection part is shaped like an open barrel, and a plate-like device connection part is extended with respect to the bottom wall of the wire connection part in an even level fashion. In a state that an electric wire is pressingly set to the wire connection part, the center of the electric wire is set off from the center of the device connection part. The resin outer covering is formed coaxial with the electric wire in order that a deformation of the housing owing to an inverted blister generated during the resin molding is uniformized by making the thickness of the housing uniform.
Therefore, when the device connection part is passed through the mounting hole so that the mounting hole is coaxial with the outer covering, the device connection part passes a position set off from the center of the mounting hole. Accordingly, in a case where the device connection part is wide or where the electric wire is thick and a quantity of eccentricity of the device connection part thereof is large, the inside diameter of the mounting hole must be increased. The result is that the outer covering diameter is large, and the molded connector is large in size as a whole.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to reduce the size of the molded connector.
According to a broad aspect of the invention, there is provided a molded connector to be mounted on a device in which a device body is accommodated in a case having a circular mounting hole, in which the molded connector includes a terminal fixture having a device connection part and a wire connection part connected to an electric wire, and a circular outer covering which is coaxial with the electric wire and is applied to the wire connection part and a terminal part of the electric wire, the outer covering is fit into the mounting hole, and the device connection part is connected to the device body, the improvement being characterized in that the center of the device connection part is aligned with the axial center of the electric wire.
In a preferred embodiment, the device connection part is shaped like a plate, and is shaped like such an open barrel that a pair of caulking pieces are raised from the right and left side edges of a bottom plate thereof. The caulking pieces are driven together to enclose the electric wire. A bottom plate of the wire connection part and the device connection part are coupled to each other by a stepped coupling part, so that those are vertically set off from each other, whereby the center of the device connection part is aligned with the axial center of the electric wire.
In another embodiment, reinforcing parts are respectively formed on the right and left side edges of the coupling part, the reinforcing parts being continuous to the front ends of the caulking pieces and the rear end of the device connection part.
[Aspects 1 and 2]
In the invention, the center of the device connection part is aligned with the axial center of the electric wire and the outer covering. Accordingly, the device connection part passes the center of the mounting hole. With this, the inside diameter of the mounting hole is made small, and will reduce the outside diameter of the outer covering, and the size of the molded connector.
[Aspect 3]
The reinforcing part is provided. Accordingly, the deformation of the coupling part is prevented without fail, so that the device connection part is held in a state that it is coaxial with the electric wire.